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Locked Up and #ShippedAway Campaign

The for-profit prison industry enables states with overcrowded prisons to ship prisoners across state lines, rather than prioritize addressing root causes of mass incarceration. Today, four states collectively lock up nearly 10,000 prisoners in for-profit prisons far from home. We strive for a system that keeps families together and provides opportunities for rehabilitation, not one that is motivated by corporate profit. Our Locked Up and #ShippedAway Campaign is about elevating the voices of people directly affected by out-of-state incarceration and challenging the idea that shipping prisoners out-of-state is an acceptable remedy for prison overcrowding. We are supporting advocates to push state leaders to reduce the number of people behind bars instead of shipping them away — out of sight and out of mind.

Click HERE to check out our campaign page on Nation Inside and ADD YOUR NAME to join the fight against sending prisoners far from home for profit!

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Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform and Grassroots Leadership, a national nonprofit based in Austin, Texas, is partnering on “Locked Up & Shipped Away,” a campaign that aims to halt the state’s practice of shipping prisoners out of state.

The press conference was called by two groups — Grassroots Leadership and Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform, to highlight a report titled "Locked Up and Shipped Away: Paying the Price for Vermont's Response to Prison Overcrowding." The document, which is a follow-up to a 2013 report and is available at grassrootsleadership.org, says there are nearly 500 male inmates from Vermont "being warehoused" in for-profit prisons. Most are in Kentucky, though a small number are housed in Arizona.

VCJR is drafting a bill to reduce inmate populations, in hopes of getting a lawmaker to sponsor it. The group also released a study produced with Texas-based national group Grassroots Leadership, which is pushing for the end of private prisons across the country.

A new report recommends taking steps to bring home Vermont’s out-of-state prison population. Grassroots Leadership, a Texas-based group that advocates the end of for-profit prisons, released a study Wednesday calling for reforms to sentencing and supervision policies, expansion of drug and mental health treatment and a greater focus on transitional housing.

Grassroots Leadership, a social justice group, released a report at the Statehouse press conference on the costs and consequences of sending inmates to private prisons in other states in response to prison overcrowding.

The report— "Locked Up & Shipped Away: Paying the Price for Vermont's Response to Prison Overcrowding" — says an over-reliance on out-of-state private prisons cuts ties between prisoners and families, which are critical to keeping inmates from reoffending. It also says shipping inmates out-of-state is costly to families, emotionally and financially. A little less than 500 Vermont inmates are currently incarcerated out of state, mostly in Kentucky. Read more about Report: Out-of-state inmates risk re-offense

The national social justice group Grassroots Leadership released a report Wednesday at the Statehouse looking at Vermont's history of sending inmates to private prisons in other states in response to prison overcrowding.

The report says an over-reliance on out-of-state private prisons cuts ties between prisoners and families, which are critical to keeping inmates from reoffending. It also says shipping inmates out-of-state is costly to families, emotionally and financially.

We have a big challenge at Grassroots Leadership. There is a lot of work to be done, and fighting a billion dollar for-profit prison industry is not easy work. But there is also much to be thankful for. The hard work of Grassroots Leadership staff, volunteers, and allies is really helping change the world to make it more just. Here are a few of the things that we at Grassroots Leadership are thankful for this year.

The Locked Up and #ShippedAway Campaign is in full force in Vermont, with our friends Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform leading the fight to bring approximately 500 men home from out-of-state private, for-profit prisons. More than a decade ago, Vermont prisoners were shipped away as a tactic, or "temporary solution" to alleviate prison overcrowding, yet little has been done to resolve this crisis. Vermont prisoners remain a steady revenue stream for Corrections Corporation of America, filling their prison beds in Kentucky and Arizona. Now, we are proud to stand with Vermonters and affected families who are bravely speaking out to put an end to this.

That is why today's Humpday Hall of Shame belongs to the Caledonian Record, a rural Vermont paper whose editors have chosen to attack and intimidate the individuals who are fighting for the return of their loved one from out-of-state private prison. In an editorial comment titled, Keep Away, the authors attempt to shame two women who have spoken out about the pain and struggle they experience having their sons shipped away by calling them "sobbing moms" and exposing details from the two men's court cases. They wrote, "Ship 'em all to Kentucky, we say. Or Siberia for all we care."

The Caledonian Record completely misses the mark. The paper can choose to spew hate and attack vulnerable women who are speaking up for their loved ones and for better criminal justice practices. But, that doesn't solve the problem for Vermonters whose loved ones are locked up out-of-state or for all Vermonters whose best interests include maintaining community ties for incarcerated people who eventually return home and in lowering prison populations and prison spending. At Grassroots Leadership, we stand in solidarity with prisoners and their families and all Vermonters fighting for safe and sane criminal justice policy, one that benefits communities and not private prison corporation bottom lines.